At one point during the second half there was a 60/40 ball that broke free and Xhaka (not favored) ran towards the City player and appeared to launch himself across the ground in an attempt to win the ball back.

He totally missed and left the midfield wide open.

I want to believe that there’s a decent player in there somewhere but he probably just needs to go unless we get a new coach this summer. He looks like he needs better direction and he’s definitely not getting that here.

You know what, the more I think about it the more I feel bad for this guy. Everyone slates him and the thing most levelled at him is ‘what the fuck does he do’ but think about it, what can he do because Wenger bought the guy then decided to tell him to forget playing how is meant to play. Look at how he plays for his national team and for his previous team. He did look quality, but he had a clear role, he stayed deep sprayed the balls about the pitch the odd aggressive tackle etc and he looked quite handy.

He comes here, straight away Wenger didn’t like him striking from distance remember his fucking ace goals…then because he got red carded for his tackles instead of him being told how to tackle properly to not get carded he gets told not to tackle at all. Then it seems that Wenger doesn’t want him to sit back and spread the ball about but be moving up the pitch, but that is not what he does too often he hasn’t got the pace to be a box to box so is always out of his natural game and movement then everyone is like 'what the fuck is he doing up there he is supposed to be back there helping out why is he outta position;

then you think of players like laca, almost a goal a game before he comes starts well gets dropped loses his confidence then gets people around him playing like he is Giroud and he has his back always to goal never pass when he is in a good position, he gets subbed off for Giroud then they play to his fucking feet like he is lacazette…WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON! then you think to yourself no wonder the players cant cope anymore they don’t know what they are doing, I mean even Ozil the worlds best no 10 and Wenger starts playing him on the fucking wing and puts Ramsey in midfield what the fucking hell is he doing…just seriously fuck off Wenger you are destroying the team.

He is too loose in possession and prone to mistakes to be a top player in the role (deep lying playmaker, distributor) that his skillset otherwise fits. But I don’t think our system does him any favors. A lot of his fuckups seem to come in situations where there is little coordinated movement and the side in general doesn’t have a fucking clue what its doing in the build up.

I think he’s probably just not good enough but it would be interesting to see him under another manager. This could be said of a lot of our players. Its hard to evaluate their potential because Wenger has set them up for failure.

With this team, Wenger has put together what looks like a cohort of technically gifted playmakers, but in reality it lacks depth, 1v1 skill. Brighton defeat shows we lack positional structure. Sure, good ball-players instinctively know where to move, but even they want guidance.

Little wonder players like Ozil, Koscielny looked bemused today at what's on front of them. We've fallen so far behind in terms of preparation, it's no wonder Arsenal are closer to "the rest" (below 6) than the top 5. We're coached just like them; basic instruction/organisation

As such, I even feel confident to declare that Xhaka will come good. When he has good games (City pl) and moments (assist) he still needs to have a perfect game. Good systems should alleviate weaknesses, and elevate strengths such that they look like they are having perfect games

Perhaps… my judgment is still he is at best an ok prem league player and not really elevating us at all, even if we were more functional. Yes, coaching and management are letting all the players down, great players still give you indications of intelligence and functional understanding (example Santi) and I’m just not seeing it with him.

Don’t care that his 35 yard efforts go off target as much as his 20 yard passes being dog shit. One of his main roles in the team is supposed to be his distribution and passing from deep ffs. Almost every forward pass or set piece delivery this prick plays is poor. The one guy who will remain crap even under a proper manager.